Magnetic field may be keeping Milky Way's black hole quiet

Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and our Milky Way is no exception. But many other galaxies have highly active black holes, meaning a lot of material is falling into them, emitting high-energy ...

Gamma-ray blazars in the sky

When the supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies accrete material, they can eject powerful jets of charged particles at speeds approaching that of light. These particles in turn emit radiation across the electromagnetic ...

Cosmic dust forms in supernovae blasts

Scientists claim to have solved a longstanding mystery as to how cosmic dust, the building blocks of stars and planets, forms across the Universe.

Lifting the veil on star formation in the Orion Nebula

The stellar wind from a newborn star in the Orion Nebula prevents more new stars from forming nearby. That is the result of new research conducted by an international research team led by the University of Cologne (Germany) ...

SOFIA pinpoints water vapor in young star

A team of scientists using the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has pinpointed the amount and location of water vapor around a newly forming star with groundbreaking precision.                                        

Flying observatory detects atomic oxygen in Martian atmosphere

An instrument onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars for the first time since the last observation 40 years ago. These atoms were found in the ...

SOFIA now accepting observing proposals

The Science Center for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA, is now accepting proposals for observing flights from February 2017 to January 2018.

SOFIA completes busy year, highlights of 2015

2015 was an exciting year for NASA's flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, or SOFIA. By flying at altitudes of more than 40,000 feet, above more than 99% of the water vapor in Earth's atmosphere, ...

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